Red
by Ulam
Summary: Afterall, it is not a sign, since he has not heard the voices in years. No, this went farther than that and for the first time in his seventeen years of life, Inuyasha was scared of what he painted.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha & characters, Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own this idea dug up from the recesses of my imagination.**

**-**Inuyasha will seem OOC for awhile

**Summary: **He was a talented painter, his trademark being the colour red. His childhood was filled with fear, uncertainty, confusion and quiet anger. That was when he heard them for the first time. They didn't stay long, before they too left just like everyone else. That is, until one came back, but it was a different one. It screamed danger and he knew his last living family member was now on Death's list. Now he'll do whatever it takes to save his sister, even if it meant he had to paint a sea of red to ensure her survival.

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**RED**

_Chapter 1_

The hushed sounds of a wet brush sliding across the canvas were the only sounds heard in the empty, white room. Sunlight poured in from the glass windows, encasing the room in a bright light. Gold eyes gazed blankly at the distorted shapes, the red liquid the most prominent colour.

It all started after his father's and mother's abrupt deaths. Then his older half-brother was found dead in his office at work. From then on, his older half-sister took care of him, but that was when it started. That was the beginning. The beginning of his obsession.

"So beautiful…" the painter hissed, his eyes darting quickly to his jar of red paint. "So very, very beautiful, the colour red."

He was different. He knew that and it took him awhile for him to accept it. Not everybody was a talented painter as he, nor did anybody have the power to communicate with the dead. It was a curse, and oddly to him, as he aged, a gift. Not many liked to talk to him and he took comfort in the voices that he heard in his head as a child.

"You and your obsession with that colour," a voice drawled from the doorway. "Just a tad bit creepy. No wonder almost the whole town is wary of you, or fears you."

Fear. Just a simple, four letter word, but the meaning can be catastrophic, devastating even. He knows what fear was. He experienced it first hand when he found out all his family, but one, died mysteriously. He felt fear when they thought he, a small child, killed his own kin in cold blood. Yet, he did not feel fear when he heard the voices for the first time. Never that emotion he felt when it concerned those voices.

The young painter smiled as he dipped his brush back in the jar, allowing a small smile to grace his face. Ever since he could remember, he was always fascinated with the colour red.

"Inuyasha!" the owner of the voice screamed, her voice edged with mild annoyance.

Inuyasha craned his neck so he could see the slim form of his older half-sister standing in the doorway. Her black hair pulled tightly into a bun, her brown eyes were cold and calculating, as a disapproving frown marred her unblemished pale face. Her grey suit was clean and immaculate, no unwanted wrinkle seen anywhere.

"As I was saying, your painting is…scary. Use more colours than just reds, blacks and dark blues…"

Inuyasha kept his blank eyes on his sister, but his mind started to stray once more. He didn't love the colour red, more like obsessed over it. Love and obsessions are two different things. His obsession is what drove people away and is one of the reasons why people labeled him different. They called him a freak, the devil, outcast and other names he didn't quite remember. The older he got, the worse his obsession became and he started using blood as his medium to paint. Just a tiny prick of his finger and away he would go, painting with his finger, using blood as paint. He was seven years old.

There were no warnings to be given when the voices would start, telling him to paint certain things with his blood. His mind would block the present and instead, somehow, he occupied himself until his instincts told him he was done painting whatever his body automatically painted without his knowledge. he was usally greeted with grotesque and disturbing paintings of death. He always surprised himself at how detailed he can paint whtout even being aware.

Most of them were of people dying; more specifically, the people in the town. His paintings were a warning, but no one heeded them. Soon, young Inuyasha's paintings rang true and one by one, people were found in their own blood, the reason for their deaths were unknown. They blamed him, but there were no hard evidence except the paintings. He couldn't be labeled a suspect, for he was but a child. It was a coincidence they said, chance, but no one knew the truth.

The voices told him they didn't kill those people, they were here to deliver the messages of death and he was the one chosen to be the physical messenger of this world. The reason they died, the voices did not tell him. He went along with it, he was but a child meant to obey and listen. Yet, as he hit puberty, the voices left and his obsession over painting with blood was done with. The deaths continued though, as is natural for the cycle of life.

"Inuyasha stop!" the panicked voice of his older sister and the sharp pain in his right hand woke him from his reverie. He watched as his paintbrush flew in the air for a moment before gravity took its toll and it clattered to the ground, splattering red paint on the clean floor.

"Kikyou?" Inuyasha called out to his older sister, watching the many emotions flicker across her face.

"You did it again! Look at what you have done!" Kikyou snarled, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at the canvas. "It came back!"

Inuyasha turned back to his painting and his normally empty eyes shone with horror. On his canvas, what used to be shapes of nothing in particular was a familiar painted body, lying brokenly on something akin to a couch. Yet, that wasn't the reason for fear to grip his heart. Inuyasha was used to his mind shutting down as he painted and when his mind came back to the present, he wouldn't be surprised to find some horrid painting staring back at him.

Afterall, it is not a sign, since he has not heard the voices in years. No, this went farther than that and for the first time in his seventeen years of life, Inuyasha was scared of what he painted. On the canvas, besides the shapes and the broken body, was a name: _KIKYOU TSUMAKI._

He thought too soon and a voice came back in full throttle and Inuyasha knew this voice was not part of the voices he heard as a child, the ones he oddly took comfort in. No, this one screamed danger and he wanted it out of his head.

_Kikyo Tsumaki, Kikyo tsumaki, Kikyo Tsumaki! One, two three and four! Once the singing has been sung, once the light reaches the tallest of the tall, you will be granted the sleep you seek for, the embrace your heart so desires._

The windows shattered and a piercing scream followed soon after, as a spray of red splattered the once pristine, white walls.

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Well it's been awhile since I wrote a story xD.

Please review & tell me what you guys think :}.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the long update, I lost motivation to do this story, but LOOK! I got it back : D.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha & characters, Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own this idea dug up from the recesses of my imagination.**

**-**Inuyasha will seem OOC for awhile

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_Chapter 2_

A small lullaby echoed the room where a lone figure sat, tears silently streaming down his chubby cheeks. In his small clawed hands was a family portrait, the class cracked & broken and stained with blood. Everything in the room was covered in blood.

His mother's and father's hands were clutching each other tightly, even in death, in the farthest corner, beside the grand piano. Blood collecting underneath the dismembered limbs and were splattered against the walls and once a white- now bloody-piano.

The headless body of his mother sat in the rocking chair, the small toy from which the lullaby was emitting from, rested in her bloodied lap. The chair was rocking, slowly and steadily.

'_It's not your fault…'_

'_It's okay…'_

'_You are not alone…'_

'_Together, we'll get through this…'_

'_Like all the other deaths you knew, but were ignorant of…'_

'_You are the messenger in this world, not the murderer…'_

Inuyasha ignored the voices in his head and allowed a sob to burst from his mouth.

His father's body was still missing, but Inuyasha was too terrified to move from his spot. Then he heard it. A small scratching sound coming somewhere in the house. Then he felt it. Another presence. Then he knew. The killer was still here. _Run_.

"…Innnnnuuyaashhhhaaa…" a voice whispered. So familiar. So soft. Once a comforting sound, but no longer does it bring the feleing of protection an warmth.

Inuyasha stood up and ran towards the window, intending to escape through there, but something grabbed him and pulled him down. The scarred child looked behind him, even when his instincts told him not to. He released a blood-curdling scream in the house.

The hands of his parents that were once holding onto each other, were now holding each of his ankle, pulling him towards his mother's dead body, rocking in the rocking chair.

"…my beloved Inuyasha…" his mother's voice called out. Her handless arms stretched outwards, as if waiting for him to jump in her arms. "…my sweet, sweet boy…"

"NO! NO!" Inuyasha screamed, trying to claw the hands away from his body, but his claws just paseds through them. "LET ME GO! PLEASE! BROTHER SESSHO! SISTER KIKYO! PLEASE!"

No one heard the poor boy scream his lungs out. No one saw how the body of the deceased Izayoi bent down to pick up her very lively son and placed him in her lap and the toy tumbled on the ground, yet it continued to play its lullaby. No one knew the complete fear the small boy was experiencing as his dead mother hugged him to her bloodied chest.

"…we'll be together forever, right my dear son?"

Inuyasha howled in agony, pain and fear, as the grip tightened to were he could hear and feel his ribs crack. His golden eyes flashed red, as his claws lengthened and his fangs elongated, to curl over his bottom lip. Purple streaks blazoned among his cheeks and he roared. He tried ripping the arms off his body, but they went right through. He squirmed, twisted, howled, clawed, but the ghostly body of his mother did not let go. That was the embrace of death.

"…be a good boy, Inuyasha…it's time to take another family picture…your father should be here soon…"

A few seconds later, something entered the room, which sent the hanyou turned youkai into a rage. A torso, with the neck snapped at a weird angle, was dragging itself with the one hand still attached to this wrist. Many lacerations and holes were seen throughout the once proud inu-youkai's body, his lower half nowhere to be found. His father...his once happy and stubborn father. _Gone_.

"…so proud of you my son…your paintings are beautiful…" the deep purr of his father's voice resonated in the room.

"…the red does liven…it…up…" Izayoi's voice whispered.

Scattered all over the room were paintings in red of the horrifying scenes of death that was happening. The dismembered hands beside the piano. The rocking chair and his headless mother. His father's body whom was missing the lower part of his body. The blood. Oh the _blood_. Everywhere, the dark red was painted _everywhere_. Including _him_.

Once the torso of Inu-Tashiou's was right beside his mate, a flash was seen in front of the 'cozy' family.

The lullaby ended.

The bodies became limp.

Yet, the rocking chair continued to rock.

Inuyasha did not move from his spot, but stared blankly at the person behind the camera on the tripod, shrouded in the shadows. A hand was deeply buried in his father's and mother's head. The fingers and the thumb making an 'eating' motion, and the jaws moved.

"Did you like my show?" an unknown voice asked, his grin the only thing Inuyasha could see on the unknown person's silhouette. The voice and the movement of his parents' jaw were coordinated.

Inuyasha did not answer, but closed his eyes and sighed, letting the darkness take him far away from this nightmare. Blood trickled down his parted lips, as his ribs poked out of his flesh.

"Oh, do not worry, this is just the beginning my dear viewer!"

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Inuyasha opened his eyes to the familiar ceiling of his and Kikyo's car. He was lying horizontally on the backseat, bags and luggages packed tightly in the small space.

"How was your nap?" Kikyo asked, but there was a slight tremor in her voice. Her brown eyes held fear and uncertainty, as she stared at the road in front of her. "Good?"

By nap, do you mean remembering the most scarring moment of his young life? Then yes, it was quite...good.

"Okay. What happened?" Inuyasha asked, as he pulled his body into a sitting position and strapped on his seatbelt, watching the scenery fly by. Oh, they passed their city's sign. So they're actually leaving their hometown? Cool.

"You…you don't remember?"

Of course Inuyasha remembered. "What happened while I was out?"

"Oh, you were knocked out. I don't know how or why, but you were-"

"Wait, and you weren't?"

Kikyou made eye contact with her younger brother through the rearview mirror and nodded no. Inuyasha's eyes widened and he suddenly got a really bad feeling churning in his gut. His instincts were screaming at him, warning him. Warning him of what?

_'...walk...'_

_'...get out...'_

There were those voices he took comfort in. The voices he have not heard in years. He trusted these voices.

"Kikyo, can we walk? Stop the car," Inuyasha demanded.

"No. We need to get out of here as quickly as we can! I do not feel like dieing back there! Also if we do walk, how do you think we are going to carry all our stuff?"

Inuyasha growled and was about to open his mouth to argue, but he saw something unusual on the side of the road. A broken portrait with scattered glass lied innocently on the road, with fresh blood pooling underneath it. Inuyasha squinted, trying to get a better look of the portrait, until something slapped against the window, making him scream on reflex. It slid down, making a squeaking noise and creating a bloody trail. Yet, that was not what really scared the hanyou. It was the portrait from the day his found his parents were murdered. The portrait he burned 12 years ago.

Kikyo looked at Inuyasha in worry and that was her mistake. When she looked back to the front, the headless form of her mother stood there and she braked and swerved onto oncoming traffic.

A familiar and hated lullaby was heard amongst the screaming of metal, the high-pitch wail of Kikyo and the keening of the tire against the pavement. Once everything settled down, two cars were intimately entwined in a mesh of metal parts. Inuyasha coughed and felt he was being dragged out of the vehicle. He tilted his head up and saw the bluest eyes he has ever seen.

"Kikyo?" Inuyasha asked. His sister has to be okay. She just has to be. If not...

The owner of the blue eyes smiled and Inuyasha knew everything was going to be okay. He let the darkness take him away once more.

'…_everything is going to be okay…'_

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Please review :}


	3. Chapter 3

******Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha & characters, Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own this idea dug up from the recesses of my imagination.**

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_Chapter 3_

His dark eyes shone with a grim satisfaction, as his lips curled upwards in a dark gleeful smirk. Yes, it is time for the show to begin once more, now that his main character matured. Things are starting to fall into place perfectly.

"Children, come forth…" his deep voice called out and in a few minutes, two shadowed figures walked into the room. One of the figures was taller and broader than the second. Both possessed long hair and empty eyes.

The puppeteer twitched his fingers and strings flew out from both his hands and towards the figures. Two screams of anguished pain ripped from their mouths, as the strings attached itself firmly within them, damning their souls even more. The sounds of flesh tearing rung loudly in the room, as the strings violently imbedded itself in the arms, legs, torso, neck and face. The screaming continued, as both owners begged for reprieve from the torment and suffering they thought was over years ago.

"Mine…" the puppeteer said softly, as the screams started to quiet down and the forms fell into a heap. "Mine to control…mine to play…mine to kill…"

"Yes Master," both voices whispered in a monotone voice.

With a flick of his wrist, both figures stood up, their backs stiff, their clothes in disarray and their mouths hanging slightly open. Inside their darkened soul, the pain continued on, ripping at it piece by piece, until nothing belonged to their previous life.

"Yours."

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"She has fallen into a comatose state and we have done everything we could. We know not of when she will wake up or if she ever will. She will need to be kept on life support for the time being," the doctor said apathetically. "You are lucky to come out of that accident unscathed."

Inuyasha nodded, his eyes staring at the comatose form of his sister. One of her leg was in a cast, while the other, was no more, amputated from the knee down. Her arm was in a cast as well and her head was smothered by bandages. Tubes pricked at her body and Inuyasha had to tamp down the urge to rip all those off of her, but he knew she needed them. The breathing mask covered her mouth, as the beep beep beep resonated in the sterile, white room. The doctor took his leave, silently leaving the teenager to his thoughts. Inuyasha grabbed his sister's pale and limb handed and held it. This was all his fault. If only he wasn't born, if only he wasn't a monster, a freak, a _devil's spawn_, his family would be alive. The icy fingers of fear and guilt gripped his heart and left him breathless, as he heavily breathed through his mouth.

Then he heard it. The slight creak of a door opening and his turned around, his eyes predatory and he formed a protective stance in front of his sister. There, behind the slightly opened door was a girl, probably the same age as he was, with the bluest eyes. The eyes he saw before he passed out. The girl hesitantly walked in and shut the door, coming to stand in front of Inuyasha, who never allowed his guard to drop. A blanket of tense silence dropped on them, their eyes refusing to break contact, trying to read the other. Inuyasha noticed, the eyes of the girl could hide her emotions better than his sister could.

"I can help your sister," the unknown female whispered, breaking the silent tension in the room.

Inuyasha snorted and glared warily at the unknown guest and barked, "Get out or I will call security."

"I can help your sister," she repeated once more.

Inuyasha didn't even respond and instead, without taking his eyes off of the girl, his hand slowly inched towards the calling button for a nurse. Just before his finger could press the button, a shadowed hand reared out of Kikyo's body and snatched his wrist in a death grip. With a holler, Inuyasha tried to yank his hand away, noticing how his skin started to lose pigment and become grey and cracked. Then he felt a pain that buried itself deep in his soul, as if something was ripping him piece by piece. He wanted to scream, oh gods, he wanted to vocalize this pain he was feeling to the world and maybe be saved, but his mouth refused to cooperate with him. It remained tightly closed, as the pain strengthened, claiming his soul. He could feel his insides start to shut down one by one, as the tune of death played in his mind. The skillful fingers of Death casually plucked the threads that kept his soul bound together from each other, its chortling laughter ringing in his ears. His knees gave out under him and he collapsed to the floor, trembling.

"You're dying."

His eyes snapped opened when the silent girl spoke, his dull yellow eyes looking at her.

"The longer that hand holds you, the more the Gates of Hell widens, bringing in your soul. Help me and I will help your sister," the girl said, her eyes riveted on the black hand still had a firm grasp on the hanyou's wrist. "Do you not wish to save your sister? How can you if you're going to die anyways…right now perhaps? Your sister's soul is damned, she has been touched by an evil being and her soul will never rest in peace. You want that for her? You want her to suffer for an eternity?"

Inuyasha weakly shook his head and with an extra amount of effort, Inuyasha weakly reached a hand to the girl, his eyes silently begging her to save him, to save his sister. The pain was becoming unbearable, and his eyes slid shut, his mouth finally opened to release a silent scream. The icy fire burned to the very core of his soul and he thrashed violently on the floor, kicking machines and destroying the tubes that kept his sister alive by accident.

As quick as the pain came, it left, leaving behind a soothing balm on his tormented and scarred soul. His eyes opened slowly and he watched the girl arm wrestle with the black hand, until it released its hold on the hanyou and disappeared. His skin glowed with youthfulness and his hair shone with health, but his eyes remained the same blank stare.

"Kagome," the girl said, looking down at the fallen hanyou, "…my name's Kagome. Together, we'll get through this, okay?"

Inuyasha coughed and slowly got up, feeling a weird sense of comfort and familiarity when he heard those words. He noticed the mess he made of Kikyo's room. The door opened in that moment, as nurses took one glance at the panting hanyou and the machines and tubes on the floor and reacted.

"Get out now or we are calling security!" one nurse screamed, as the others righted the fallen machines and hurriedly placed the tubes back in their comatose patient.

"Bu-"

"Now!"

With a firm grasp on his hand, Inuyasha winced, expecting to feel pain, but instead, only a calming iciness settled in, Kagome dragged him out of the room. Inuyasha noticed the weird glances and whispers that settled in his wake, as he passed many humans and youkai's alike. He was used to it, but it seemed even more prominent now.

"I will help free you sister's soul from the darkness she was thrown into, but to do that, you need to do exactly what I say," Kagome explained, her brisk walk not stopping in the slightest.

"Wait, no! You help my sister first, then I'll help you," Inuyasha replied back, trying to tug his wrist out of the girl's grasp. "Who are you and what did you do? Actually, what are you?"

Kagome idly glanced at him and turned her attention back to the front, marching out of the hospital until they were outside. "Does my voice not sound familiar to you, Inuyasha Takahashi?"

Inuyasha glanced at Kagome blankly, not knowing what she meant, until he really listened to her voice. The familiar and comforting tone, the soft, but firm words. With widened eyes, Inuyasha slowly backed away from the girl, his heart once again thudding against his ribcage.

"No…tha-that's not possible!" Inuyasha yelled, his golden eyes swirling with a terror-filled recognition.

With a small smile, Kagome grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it upwards, showing her stomach, or what was left of it. A big gaping hole greeted Inuyasha's eyes, as blood poured from the wound, her innards viciously slashed and some even hanging outside her stomach.

"I am that of the dead, the voice of the dead and one the messengers of the dead," Kagome said smoothly, dropping her shirt. Inuyasha stared at her in horror, noticing no blood that pooled beneath her or any stains in her shirt. "I am one of those voices you hear in your head."

Inuyasha staggered and almost fell on his ass once again, but managed to keep himself upright. His mouth gaped open and the hideous image of her bloodied stomach entered his mind and reminded him of his past memories of his parents'. This was not happening, this was impossible! He cannot see the dead!

"For years, I have been trying to contact you, but you managed to block me out, along with the other voices. As your obsession with blood faded, you managed to tune my voice out, along with the others. Your fascination with blood is what allowed you to hear us when you were younger, but now, the circumstances are different. Something evil grabbed a piece of your soul and in it, laid a dark portion, opening the link that gave you the ability to converse with the dead and to actually see them," Kagome explained, motioning her hand to the others that loitered about the hospital grounds.

Inuyasha glanced around and then he really looked. He noticed the lifeless eyes and the grotesque wounds, which were partially hidden underneath their clothes. He could feel bile go up in his throat and with a quick turn of his head, he threw up what was left in his stomach. After a few seconds of retching what he could, Inuyasha wiped his mouth and slid his eyes at the patiently waiting girl.

"Why me though? Why do I get to be chosen by some…dark _thing_ to lay its damn egg in me?" Inuyasha yelled, his mind trying to grab the ideas of him actually seeing the dead and that his soul possessed some dark _thing_.

"I know not why it chose you to implant such an evil thing maybe because you can speak with the dead ever since you were young? Any dead soul who would know such a thing would try to claim you as such. Luckily, I reached you in time to stop the full claiming, and now only part of you is claimed. You now belong to me, mostly. There will be times where I might lose you and you might fall into darkness."

With a growl, Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at Kagome and hissed, "I am not yours, especially some soul without a body. Why could you not have saved my sister, instead of me?"

"You are my main priority; your sister cannot converse with the dead. She is of no use to me, but in order for you to agree, I will help her. Your soul is not damned, so I cannot make you do anything, but I can protect you from falling into Death's hands."

"You can only control the souls of the damned?"

"If only I have imbedded into them a piece of me to create such darkness, but my soul is not too dark for me to do such a feat. My soul is too…pure. Or, what is left of it."

Inuyasha scoffed and glared at Kagome, "What do I need to do to help Kikyo?"

"You are crazy to believe everything I am saying. You trust too easily," Kagome remarked. "You better know the difference between someone who is that of the dead and the living. The dead do not need such easily seen wounds to tell you they are dead. You will not trust anyone else's word but mine."

"I became crazy the moment I started to hear voices in my head. You never gave me a reason to not trust you as a kid and that is the only reason why I believe you. Out of the voices in my head, you were able to comfort me to an extent. What do I need to do to help Kikyo?"

"I need you to recover the rest of my soul, to counteract the evil which plagues Kikyo, you must find the pieces of the Shikon Jewel."

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a/n: I have no good explanation on why this took so long. Please review/constructive criticism is welcomed.


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